The first thing I noticed in Orphan and the Five Beasts was the empty space. Creator James Stokoe is still all about the detail, but now he lets dust in the air just be dust in the air. Stokoe’s detail isn’t static; it takes a while for Orphan to get to some action (I was worried we wouldn’t get to see any until next issue), but once it arrives… Well, Stokoe does some great action. Just perfectly paced, with a great sense of grace, humor, space, and timing.
The comic is about orphan Mo, taken in as a child by a reclusive martial arts master in something like feudal-ish Japan. He’s been training her all her life–they don’t say martial arts, Stokoe’s got a fun way of talking around it (in a “they’re the best at what they do” kind of way)—and now she’s got to go out in the world and right his wrongs. Once upon a time, the old master taught five villagers each an aspect of the martial art (so there are five total aspects, each villager learns one) in order to defeat an invader. The villagers promised they’d return and finish their training. Instead, they used their new powers to become villains.
Mo’s got to go out and get rid of them; old master is too old to do it; won’t be a problem because Mo knows all five aspects, which means Orphan is going to feature a lot of great butt-kicking.
And it does. That fight scene is fantastic, but what about the first Beast she’s after?
That fight will be next issue, no doubt. I’m assuming six issues, five beasts and a prologue. When Stokoe introduces the first Beast, he really amps up the humor (and the icky); both to success.
Old fighting master teaches orphan girl to be unstoppable, but honorable killing machine and sends her out into the world is a trope but Stokoe’s sense of humor, his finely paced storytelling, and his gorgeous art promise a very well-executed trope.
Stokoe finishes up Dead Orbit with an awesome all-action issue. There’s very little in the way of story. There’s very little in the way of characters. There are characters–it’s been so long since the last issue, I only remember the lead and don’t remember how the bookends work–but there’s no characterization.
This issue finally delivers Stokoe action violence with Aliens. There’s not a lot, he mostly goes for the terror of the crew, but it’s also terrorized crew members by Stokoe. This issue is exactly what Dead Orbit has always promised. And it’s still just an Aliens comic. Stokoe needs more room, he needs more pages. He feels too confined. He’s got his visual poetics, very much in line with the original Alien, but he can’t get their pace right. He can pace the action and gore right; there’s just not enough room for both. It’s too bad. But still awesome.
Dead Orbit continues–James Stokoe drawing chestbursters alert!–without any bumps. Stokoe’s script is solid; most of the issue is flashback explaining how the aliens got onboard, then the aliens finally show up at the end. The issue leaves the protagonist in a precarious situation but it doesn’t really matter. Stokoe, even in his reduced, licensed-title friendly level of detail, is the draw. And there’s a cute nod to Alien3.
What’s Aliens: Dead Orbit about? Too soon to tell. Aliens, most likely. And a refueling station in a dead orbit. Maybe. It’s really all about James Stokoe doing an Aliens comic. There aren’t even aliens in this issue–not really–just that wonderful Stokoe art. Great detail for the spacecrafts, great detail for the cast. It’s not all out Stokoe detail, but it’s good Stokoe detail. And he gets in plenty of cute Alien visual homages without being dependent on franchise familiarity. What happens next? Who cares so long as it’s Stokoe.
I’m curious how writer-artist-colorist-letterer (hah to the letterer credit but more on it in a bit) pitched Godzilla in Hell to IDW. Or did they ask him to pitch?